Tote box



Feb. 26 w24. lASB R. J. BURRovvs 'TOTE Box Filed Jan. 8. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb., 26 1924.

R. J. BURROWS TOTE BOX Filed Jan. 8. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mi ness MM v warehouses to provide a com .lil

I box od 'of the Hoor.

. the box being approximate or balanced on the platform which might Patented Feb." Z6, ld.

*i xii.

aannam a. nuanowaor BUCHANAN, moe-au,

COMP, 0F BUCHANAN, MICHIGAN,

A CORPORATION 0F MICHIGAN.

'rn nox.

Application medi.` January 8, 1923. Seria1 No. 611,452. A

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, ROBERT J. BURRows, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Buchanan, in the county of Berrien and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Tote Boxes, of which the followin is a specification, reference being had to t e accompanying drawings.

lt 1s common practicel in factories and aratively large number of portable receptac es-for containing various heavy articlessuch as finished and unfinished castings', machine parte, etc., which receptacles are used not only for the storae of @such articles until they are requiren for further work upon them or for incororation in a machine that is being assem led, but are ing such articles in 0n account of their use bulk from place to place. in connection with such moving of theircontents they haveL become known in the trade as tote-boxes. rlhese tote-boxesV are ordinarily moved by trucks having liftin -platforms which are moved beneath the ottoms of such-boxes and then elevated to carry Diderentmakes of lift-trucks vary as to the width of their movable supporting lplatforms and differ also with respect to their minimum' and maximum elevation, and therefore it is not uncommon for one type of lift-trucktobe found not adapted for handling a certain make or type of tote-box although perfectly ada ted for other makes or types. object of myinvention to rovide a construction of tote-box that can e lifted b trucks having varying widths of lifting-p atforms and that dier in respect which their platforms can be .moved toward or. from thev floor. Brieflyl stated, l accomplish this object by making the' box longer than-it is wide which `permits the narrower type of truck platformto be en tered between the legis of the box from an end of the box and t e wider type. of truck platform to be entered between the. legs of each Ainstance have the sides of the platform reasonably close to the le y evenly centered the narrow truck that. will not bathe case. if

between the legs when approximately it v box-body at Athe platform isent'ered between the box-legs also made vuseof in movthe legs of the' lt is the lea ing to the extent to4 which ensures ,these corner posts 1s,

moved iii-from the endwere movedin under the box from the'side thereof. .To provide for the box being lifted by trucks that dif- \fer from each other as to the extent to which they can be raised or loweredV l construct the box with parallel cross-pieces located at opposite sides and extending below the bottom of the box, such cross-pieces resting upon the truck platform when the narrower type oftruc Vis used that passes' under the one end thereof, whereas when at one of the sidesof the box the bottom of the box wlllrest on the platform. It is a further obJec-t of the invention to provide the box-body at each of its ends with al strong, durable and novel metal frame formed of strips of material that are readily bolted together and to which the end and side walls and bottom, which will ordinarily be` made of wood, may be bolted, so asl to be readily removable when broken or badly worn. .These objects4 I accomplishby the 'constructions and arrangements of parts shown inthe drawings and hereinafter particularly described. That which l believe to be new will be pointed out in the claims.

ln the drawings,'

Fig. 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section of a box embodymg m improvements, some of the parts being part ybroken away;

. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken at line 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a detail, bein a perspective view of the lower portion o one of the corner posts; l

Fig. Zlf'is a view similar to Fig. 1 but illustrating a modified construction;-

Fig. 5 is a plan view artly in section of one end 'portion of the ox shown in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a view-in end elevation of the box of l, portions thereof being broken the box from one side of the box,' and in posts of a rectangular framework that carside walls and bottom of the receptacle, the' lower portions of such corner posts projecting for a considerable distance below the bottom ofv the box so as to 'constitute the supporting legs. V Each of 'n the construction ries the end walls,

the several figures of the shown in these figures, formed of hea angle-iron bars. The two posts at eac end are stron ly connected together by a horizontally-disposed angle-iron 11, one of the flanges of which is out o' at its ends to permit the other flange-the vertical one as here shown-to be turned at a right angle so that each of such turned ends forms a broad bearing portion 12 that lies against the inner face of one of the anges of the adjacent angle-iron post 10. rl`he bar 11 is secured to the two end posts that it connects by bolts 13, as shown. These crosspieces 11, in addition tov serving as means for connecting together the corner posts between which they respectively extend, serve another and more important purpose in that they provide means for the platform of a lifting truck to abut against when such lifting truck is inserted beneath the body of the box at one of the ends thereof. At their lower ends the angle-iron corner posts each hasone of its flanges cut away so that the other flange may be turned i-n at'right angles, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, to form a fiat and comparatively smooth faced end for resting upon a floor., Such turned end is shown at 14. v

rlhe two pairs of connected-together cor ner posts are themselves connected together by side pieces and bottom pieces that are indicated, respectively, by 15 and 16. The side boards lie against one Harige of the corner osts and are removably secured thereto ybolts 17. The bottom boards 16 rest at their end portions upon the horizontal flanges of the cross-pieces 11 and are secured thereto by bolts 18. ll prefer to construct the bottom of the box of two thicknesses of boards, as shown in Fig. 1, because ofthe heavy weight that it frequently has to sustain. The end walls of the box are indicated by 19 and, like the side walls, are preferably made of boards, such boards lying against the other tlanges of the corner posts and being secured in place by bolts 20.

21 indicates heavy metal bands extending across and against the lower face ot the bottom of the box, such bands having their ends turned up to lie for a distance along and against the side walls 15, to which they are secured by bolts 22-screws 23 being preferably em loyed for fastening the bands to the under ace of the bottom boards 16.

As shown vclearly by Fig. 2, the length of the box is materially greater than its width, and, therefore, a lifting truck whose platform 'is too wide to be entered beneath the body of the box at the end therofma be entered at the side, whereas with a truc having a narrower lifting platform it'may be entered between the legs at one end of the box. Where aliftin truck is used that is large enough to be s oved beneath the` Megen body ofthe box from the side thereof and also tit-reasonably close to the le s of the box, it will generally be found t at such truck has a vertical range of movement that will readily enable it to lift'the box 0E the floor by direct contact of the platorm with the bottom of the box. 0n the other hand,

many trucks that are of a size that will permit them to be entered beneath'the box at the end thereof are not so constructed as to enable their platforms to so contact the bottom of the box. Because of thatfact l( have provided the cross-pieces 11 which, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, project for a considerable distance below the bottom of the box, and by reason" of this-location such last-named character of trucks bybearing against the lower edges of these cross-pieces are able to elevate and carry the boxes. .This provision of means for accommodating a single box to trucks whose platforms vary as to the length of their vertical movement is of very considerable importance, as it does away with the necessity of constructing these boxes to' fit the requirements of a particular type or make of truck.

Referring now to the modified form of 4 construction shown in Figs. 4, `5 and 6,25 indicates corner posts of a tote-box, which posts, however, are in this construction made of wood and have screwed to their` outer faces boards 26 constituting the side walls of the box and boards 27 constituting the endwalls of the box. The corners of the strips-28| that may'be secured in place by the same screws that serve to connect the walls of the box to theposts. piece 28 is' per end wit Each protecting referably provided at its up a turned thickened member or knob 2,9 to aidin preventing damage to ainst the inner faces thereof,

6 these strips 31 are preferably secured by screws to such corner posts. As shown there is provided against the inner face ot the lower or supporting-leer part of each post a bracket 32, the .horizontal portion oi. which lies under and helps support the bottom of the box, such bracket being bolted in place to both the bottom and the legs. 33 indicates a metal band of the same width as-the strips 31, such a band bein arranged to lie across the outer face of eac ing leg and extending across the exposed ends of the cross strips 31 secured to such leg, the turned ends of the band bein secured by screws as shown in Fig. 5. uch

'v support- 4rec meten.

a band protects the strips against injury, as will be understood. To the lower end of each of the supporting legs is fastened a cupshaped head for contact with the Hoor, which heads act to protect the Wooden legs from splitting or other injury.

While the corner posts 25 and cross-pieces 31 in this modified construction are formed of wood instead of metal as in the rst described construction, it will be seen that by reason of the protection given by the metal parts 28, 29, 33 and 34 such modified construction is very fully protected against the rough usage to which receptacles of this character are subjected. Like the construction described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2, it is adapted for being lifted by trucks having plat-forms of varying widths and varying inthe amount of vertical movement, and hence in those respects is very similar to such first described construction. Also, it is to be noted that in either construction the parts that are most apt to become broken or damaged are the walls and the bottom of the box, and that these parts are so connected with the framework that they can be readily replaced when required.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A device adapted to be lifted bodily from a floor by a lift-truck for transporting it and articles carried thereon, comprising in combination a member for receiving and supporting such articles, legs at the corners of such member for maintaining it at a distance above the loor that such legs rest upon, and means below said member and adjacent to two opposite margins thereof for providing for operative engagement of a lift-truck with said device in a lower plane than at the other margins of said member.

2. A tote-box comprising in combination side and end walls, a bottom, four vertical corner posts to which said walls are attached, said corner posts projecting past the bottom of the box to form supporting legs that hold the box-body at a considerable distance above the fioor that said legs rest upon, and two parallel cross-pieces cach connecting two of said legs together and upon the upper portions of which said bottom is supported, the lower edges of said cross-pieces serving to support the box as a whole upon the platform of a lifttruck that is moved thereunder.

3. A tote-box comprising in combination side and end walls, a bottom, four vertical angle-iron corner posts, to one flange of each of which said side walls are bolted and to the other flange of each of which said end walls are bolted, said corner posts projecting past the bottom of the box to form supporting legs that hold the box-body at a considerable distance above the floor that said legs rest upon, and two parallel angleiron cross-pieces each connecting two of said legs together` and upon the horizontal flanges of which said bottom is supported,

the vertical flanges of said cross-pieces projecting below said bottom and serving to support the boX as a whole upon the platform of a lift-truck when such truck is moved under the bog-body between. the legs that said cross-pieces connect together.

ROBERT J. BURROWS. 

